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Born and raised in Yangon, he has lived in six countries and knowledgeable in unrelated areas including self-taught programming languages.
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What's the Opposite of Loudly?

myan2-myan2thwa3
means "go fast".

pfyay3 pfyay3thwa3 means "go slow".

In Burmese kjeare2-kjeare2
means loudly.

And the opposite of kjeare2-kjeare2 is toe3-toe3.

I am lost for word as to how to say the opposite of "loudly" in English. Is there an English adverb
which means "in low volume"? "Quietly" or "Silently" means no volume at all. You can say "whisper",
"hush..hush" or speak "softly", but how do I tell someone to listen to the radio in low volume using the
opposite of "loudly"?

In Burmese you don't indirectly say: "Please turn down your volume" because you can directly say:
"Please listen unloudly." I have never heard of the word "unloudly" in English before. Have you? And
I have never heard of anyone saying "Please listen softly" either.

Could it be that there is no English word for toe3-toe3 because English
speakers always turn up the speakers and never play their music toe3-toe3 ?

By the way, the Burmese phrase is toe3-toe3pfwin1
(in low volume + to open) to tell the teenager to turn on the latest electronic gadget in low volume.

CLICK TABLE HEADER COLUMNS TO SORT BY ASCENDING OR DESCENDING ORDER IN ENGLISH OR BURMESE.

Lesson 8: "How" and "When" Parts of Action Words -- Burmese Adverbs

Imagine yourself driving a red Ferrari down the long and winding mountain road. Suddenly, at the steep corner turn, you lost
control, and you find yourself in the clouds. You quickly press the emergency button with your shaken hand, and the parachute opens. As you take a deep breath, you see the blue
mountain behind the clouds in your rear-view mirror. You will now never forget the meaning of MOUN3, (to drive) on the
MOUNtain road. That's a memory technique where you are learning to associate the word MOUN3 with MOUNtain. Here is a video clip with less power than a red Ferrari.

Imagine yourself driving a red Ferrari down the long and winding mountain road. Suddenly, at the steep corner turn, you lost control, and you find yourself in the clouds. You quickly press the emergency button with your shaken hand, and the parachute opens. As you take a deep breath, you see the blue mountain behind the clouds in your rear-view mirror. You will now never forget the meaning of MOUN3, (to drive) on the MOUNtain road. That's a memory technique where you are learning to associate the word MOUN3 with MOUNtain. Here is a video clip with less power than a red Ferrari. [28 seconds]

Verbs in the previous lesson are quite useful in telling others what you want to do. But, sooner or later you discover that you still
cannot communicate what you really want to say. Something seems to be missing. For example, you need to go to the embassy in a hurry.
You know the words thwa3
means to go and moun3
means to drive. You have memorized some useful nouns such as
thun2-yone3 for embassy.
In addition, you know the general formula for constructing a sentence
which says you want to do something:

xxxxchin2deare2
-- I want to xxxx.

So, you can tell the driver:

thun2-yone3thwa3chin2deare2
-- I want to go to the embassy.

You can follow up with the order:

moun3 -- drive!

or using the softer tone:

moun3ba2 -- Please drive!

You still find the sentence unsatisfactory because you have expressed only half of what you really want to say: You are in a hurry. You want him
to drive fast.

The five types of Burmese Adverbs

The Adverb in the Burmese grammar has a Pali origin, and is known as kri1-ya2 wi1-thay2-tha1-na1.
The word kri1-ya2 refers to the action words (Verbs), and wi1-thay2-tha1-na1 means
to modify or to qualify. Burmese adverbs qualify the verbs similar to English.

Words that describe "how" part of the action words known as a-mu2-a-ya2-pya1 kri1-ya2 wi1-thay2-tha1-na1
belong to a type of Myanmar adverbs that show gestures, manner, facial expressions, and behavior of human and other living beings. Examples:

yo2-yo2 thay2-thay2kine2ba2 - Please handle
with care.

hnay3-hnay3 kway3-kway3 - sluggishly.

wome3-wome3 dine3-dine3 - noisily.

Myanmar grammar put the conditions of things such as road conditions affected by the heavy storm in a different classification of adverbs.
It is called a-chay2-a-nay2-pya1 kri1-ya2 wi1-thay2-tha1-na1. Examples:

Adverb example in a song

The song in the video clip below used the adverb da1-jain2-ta1-kha2 meaning once in a while.

da1-jain2-ta1-kha2 -- once in a while (adverb)dtha2 -- only (particle)yah1 -- have (verb)dthau3 -- (particle) convert the clause into adjective to mean "rare"pweare3-dau2 -- festive occasion (noun)a-tu2-tu2 -- together (adverb)pyau2 -- be happy (verb)

da1-jain2-ta1-kha2dtha2yah1dthau3pweare3-dau2a-tu2-tu2pyau2 --
We have this festival only once in a while. Let's be happy together.

We have this festival only once in a while. Let's be happy together. [29 seconds]
da1-jain2-ta1-kha2 -- once in a while (adverb)
dtha2 -- only (particle)
yah1 -- have (verb)
dthau3 -- (particle) convert the clause into adjective to mean "rare"
pweare3-dau2 -- festive occasion (noun)
a-tu2-tu2 -- together (adverb)
pyau2 -- be happy (verb)

More Burmese Adverb Examples

Now, we will add adverbs to the verbs we have met in the previous lesson.
The following are mixtures of complete sentences, verbal commands, suggestions and phrases. They are organized in the same sequence as
in lesson 7.

You will note that many of those Burmese adverbs are formed by doubling of words. For example, koun3
means good (adjective), and koun3-koun3 means
nicely (adverb), or in a good manner. Those double-word adverbs are frequently used in
spoken form and they are further classified as hna1-kjain2-htut kri1-ya2- wi1-thay2-tha1-na1
in Burmese grammar, which means "two-times-repeat adverbs".

Busy Street Activities

thate - so much (adverb)ku2 - help (verb)chin2 - want to (particle used as verb suffix to mean "ku2-chin2" - want to help)ta2 - modifies "want to help"(verb) to "the thought that wants to help" (noun) beare3 - emphasis ending word: "exactly! (particle)

Lunch Hour

Although let is a singular form meaning hand, it is understood to refer to both
hands of a single person. The plural letdway2 refers to hands of many people.
(See lesson 32 for singular and plural terms.)

kha1-nah1 ta1-pfyoata-na3yu2meare2 -- I am going to take a short rest!
(momentarily + a rest [noun] + to take + going to)

Near the end of Shift

na2-yi2ma1-kja2 kha1-nah1 kji1
-- Watch the clock every now and then.
(clock or watch + not + take a long time + again and again + to look or to glance)

This word is interesting. ma1-kja2 kha1-nah1 is a coined word using
ma1-kja2, which
means not + take a long time, and kha1-nah1 kha1-nah1,
which means again and again. So,
ma1-kja2 kha1-nah1 means you do something again and again before a long time. The appropriate English translation
is every now and then.

End of Shift

a-khu1beare3a-loathsin3deare2
-- I just finished work, as in "the shift is just over."
(now + just + work + to go down + affirmation)

yay2lone2oun2beare2-lo2patema1leare3 --
How do I shut the faucet tight so that water will not be dripping?

The word oun2 is a positive word which means "to pass", such as in "to pass the exam" (verb). It can be appended
to several other words as conjunction to mean "in order to make it happen". For example,
sin2oun2 means "in order to
make it clean", where sin2 means "be spotlessly clean".

Family time

yay2-di2-yo2 -- Radioa-kjeare2 ji3 -- loudlyna3-htoun2 -- to listen

yay2-di2-yo2a-kjeare2 ji3na3-htoun2
-- listen to the radio so loudly.

TVtoe3-toe3 -- opposite of "loudly"; in low volumebeare3 -- onlypfwin1 -- to open

Myanmar housewives probably shop for dry goods every week. Majority of households in Myanmar
buy fresh vegetables and small portions of meat, fish, or chicken almost every day in the neighborhood market. There are also sellers -- usually
women-- going around some neighborhood every morning, each carrying a big basket of grocery items on their heads and crying out the melody of their signature
voices.

Adverbs should be studied after the verbs. In Burmese language grammar,
particles and postpositional markers are also important because verbs or adverbs alone will not
work. Those parts of speech will be discussed later in detail.